by Gloria Baker

 

Pacific Frontier poet Joaquin Miller managed to bend his life and his poetry into life as art and art as life.  The “Byron” of Oregon was no foppish, delicate, silk-clothed, satin-embraced, European dandy.  He was a lusty, crusty, hell-bent dynamic man of heroic deeds and devilish demeanor who not only presided over law; he stepped outside the law when it suited him.  He was never opposed to embellishing truth.  He found glory in good stories and enjoyed making a good story better.

      Cincinnatus Hulings Miller was born at Liberty, Indiana, about 1837 but he preferred his invention of "born in a covered wagon, pointed west”.  In 1852 the Miller's decided to relocate to Oregon.

Their land grant was three miles north of Coburg, Oregon.  In his poem "Memorie and Rime" Miller describes the property:  "A high grassy ridge, running down from the great Sierras in the rear”.  Repeatedly, he refers to the "Oregon Sierras--miscalled the Cascades."

      He enjoyed a lusty, adventurous youth.  From 1853 until 1861, Miller reveled in and out of Eugene City. 

      The man who would become a legend in his lifetime became a prospector, a friend, and sometime foe of the Modoc Indians, a horse thief, jailbird, reader of law, and pony express rider.

      Miller claimed it was prospecting and Idaho's Oro Fino gold in his pockets that enabled him to buy an interest in Eugene City's Democrat Register as well as a new home.  It was the second year of the Civil War and after purchasing the newspaper he spent eight months as its fiery, fiercely pro-Confederate editor.  His editorial opinions were so distasteful that the authorities suppressed the newspaper for disloyalty. The young man became a judge in Grant County from 1866-1870 and he continued to write his poetry.

      Oregon poetry reviewers didn't care for Miller's writings but Bret Harte liked "Joaquin, Et Al" published in Portland in 1869, and he said so with warm praise in the "Overland Monthly" of January 1870.  Harte's praise convinced Miller to travel south, seeking comradeship with "the bards of San Francisco Bay."

      That same year, carrying a suitcase, entwined with a wreath of Sausalito laurel leaves to lay on Byron's tomb, the flamboyant poet-showman, public relations master, smiled for the cameras and sailed to England, seeking the fame eluding him in America.

      "The third poem in my first London book was called 'California,' but it was called 'Joaquin' in the Oregon book.  And it was from this that I was in derision called "Joaquin."  I kept the name and the poem too, till both were at least respected...." It didn't bother him that he retained a name associated with the notorious murderer, Joaquin Murietta.  His public relations gifts were amazing.

      Miller was a huge success in Great Britain.  They loved his Old West wreath, his Old West sombrero, flowing hair and beard, buckskins and buffalo robes, and knee-high unpolished boots.  He continued writing and London was his litmus test.  The literati hailed him another Browning.  They  praised the "Songs of the Sierras,"  published in London in 1871. His second book, "Life Among The Modocs," was a huge success in Paris.

      Established as a famous poet, Miller spent the next 42 years playing the role of Oregon/California frontiersman for his own enormous enjoyment and the pleasure of the public.  His indoor-outdoor costume consisted of sombrero and knee-high boots.  Drinking whiskey from a tin cup, he would hold court in the study-bedroom of his home, “The Hermitage” in the Oakland, California hills.  The 75-acre spread had a full view of the Golden Gate.  How typical of him to borrow  "The Hermitage" from the Russian breath-taking palace of the same name. Two huge ironbound chests stood beside his bed.  They were covered with wild animal hides and labeled "Gold Dust”.

      Miller wrote his most famous poem "Columbus”, in 1885.  Americans once knew this poem by heart for it was a staple of Columbus Day celebrations on the public squares and in the schoolrooms of the nation until World War I.

      In 1863, he was attracted to a writer, Minnie Theresa Dyer, pen name, Minnie Myrtle, who wrote verses for western papers.  Miller was so intrigued by her muse that he called upon the lady and three days later they married.  It was an unhappy union.  Seven years and one daughter later they divorced.  His last marriage was into the Leland family of hotel fame.

      When he died, February 18, 1913, the San Francisco Call compared the poem "Columbus" to Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address”, declaring it greater than Emerson's "Concord Hymn”.

      Joaquin Miller, one of the most emphatic personalities of Pacific Frontier history, was typical of many western heroes--he became a mythic figure, one of his own creation.  Miller captured himself in the last two lines of "Columbus”.

                  "He gained a world; he gave that world

                  Its grandest lesson:  On!  Sail on!"